First, the invocation:
Lord, please deliver us from 4+ hour-long town council meetings, for I am your sleepiest soldier. Guide our elected representatives to stay on topic, avoid antagonizing one another, and use procedural obstruction only when necessary. If the sessions must indeed be long, in accordance with your will, may they at least be productive.
This is a bit of a lengthy one; you'll see why below.
In the News
The Sun's reporting on the marina study from the presentation to the town council on January 6th
The state issued new rules for cannabis sales
Senator Whitehouse did not go easy on his law school buddy RFK Jr. during his first confirmation hearing, but when asked by the ProJo whether he would vote to confirm him, he said, “People just need to kind of chill on that.” Senator Reed, thankfully, “remains firmly opposed to Kennedy’s nomination,” according to Talking Points Memo.
Although Caroline Kennedy wrote a letter to the Senate imploring them to not confirm her cousin’s nomination, calling him a “predator” and that he led friends and family down a dark road of substance abuse and addiction, our very own former congressman Patrick Kennedy, who has been in recovery for more than a decade, supports his cousin’s nomination.
Town Council
JANUARY 27 - Regular Meeting (agenda)
I’m on my KNEES begging you all
DISCUSSION WITH STATE LEGISLATORS
This was the yearly public meeting between our town council and our state legislators: Senators Gu and Azzinaro, and Representatives Kennedy and Spears. Most of the concerns from both sides concerned money; the state is still waiting for federal funding (lol), and even then, the state budget is at a $222 million deficit. Our state representatives assured the council that the governor is committed to no decreases in the education budget, at least. Questions from the town council included ownership of the Chamber of Commerce building, non-veterans living in veteran subsidized housing, revenue from Misquamicut Beach (and getting the beach back to the town from the state), and locals wanting to be more involved in the planning for the commuter rail.
Many citizen's comments were on this subject - mainly that locals had not yet participated in any dialog with Fuss & O'Neill via Lighthouse Consulting. As much as I hate to admit it, Councilor LaPietra brought up a really useful point: how much the project has strayed from its original scope, which mainly concerned destruction of the dam, fish passage, and mitigation of flood risk. He also mentioned the cost to future taxpayers for maintaining the seven (or eight, or nine) weirs that the current plan will construct.
EDC AND PLANNING BOARDS
Lots of discussion about matters currently on the plates of the EDC and Planning Board: the marina study (which councilors astutely observed on the agenda the mention of "evaluate ownership options," which had not yet been a matter of dispute - namely, that the town wants to keep the property, so why are ownership options being evaluated?); the route one corridor study; the possible appointment of a permanent committee for affordable housing (lots of argument about whether or not the Planning Board has the bandwidth the dedicate the needed attention to this particular endeavor); and the infrastructure bond (and what it ought to be used for). I don't think any action was taken on any of these, but I'll double-check the minutes when they're published... like a month from now.
FORT ROAD LITIGATION (EXECUTIVE SESSION)
Several citizen's comments regarding the ongoing litigation between the town and the Watch Hill Fire District over beach access to Napatree Point via Fort Road. The majority of speakers, several of whom are associated with the CRMC, reminded new councilors of the overwhelming public support to the town charter amendment, which prohibits the town from "(conveying) or (abandoning) any of its interests in the rights of way to the shoreline." Of course, the WHFD's dispute is that Fort Road was never a public right of way to begin with, making this particular point moot. There was also one very brave gentleman who dared to ask the question: what about the rights of those who own private property at Napatree Point? (Like former councilor Lowther said last year, nothing has more rights in this country than private property.)
School Committee
January 22 - Budget Meeting (agenda)
This meeting was mainly a review of transportation expenses (director not being present at the meeting, staffing shortages, expenses to outsourcing especially for special needs kids, reliability of electric busses) and building/capital projects from the previous year, so that these can be addressed accurately in the next budget.
January 28 - Budget Meeting (agenda)
A very straightforward meeting! Discussed expenses associated with special education needs and transportation.
Other Boards and Committees
Planning Board (January 21)
Municipal Land Trust (January 27) (no agenda or minutes available)
Coming up next…
After all of the Senate confirmation hearings have been completed, I’ll let you all know who our boys Whitehouse and Reed voted for and against. The next newsletter will come out on Friday, February 14, because I love you all so much!
Thank you for reading. ❤ Enjoy your weekend!
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